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Is Invesco Pharmaceuticals ETF (PJP) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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The Invesco Pharmaceuticals ETF (PJP - Free Report) was launched on 06/23/2005, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Health Care ETFs category of the market.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

Market cap weighted indexes were created to reflect the market, or a specific segment of the market, and the ETF industry has traditionally been dominated by products based on this strategy.

Investors who believe in market efficiency should consider market cap indexes, as they replicate market returns in a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way.

However, some investors believe in the possibility of beating the market through exceptional stock selection, and choose a different type of fund that tracks non-cap weighted strategies: smart beta.

These indexes attempt to select stocks that have better chances of risk-return performance, based on certain fundamental characteristics or a combination of such characteristics.

The smart beta space gives investors many different choices, from equal-weighting, one of the simplest strategies, to more complicated ones like fundamental and volatility/momentum based weighting. However, not all of these methodologies have been able to deliver remarkable returns.

Fund Sponsor & Index

The fund is sponsored by Invesco. It has amassed assets over $327.58 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the Health Care ETFs. PJP seeks to match the performance of the Dynamic Pharmaceutical Intellidex Index before fees and expenses.

The Dynamic Pharmaceutical Intellidex Index is comprised of stocks of U.S. pharmaceutical companies. It is designed to provide capital appreciation by thoroughly evaluating companies based on a variety of investment merit criteria, including fundamental growth, stock valuation, investment timeliness and risk factors.

Cost & Other Expenses

Since cheaper funds tend to produce better results than more expensive funds, assuming all other factors remain equal, it is important for investors to pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio.

Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.57% for this ETF, which makes it on par with most peer products in the space.

The fund has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.97%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

Most ETFs are very transparent products, and disclose their holdings on a daily basis. ETFs also offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, though it's still important for investors to research a fund's holdings.

Representing 100% of the portfolio, the fund has heaviest allocation to the Healthcare sector.

Taking into account individual holdings, Pfizer Inc (PFE) accounts for about 5.16% of the fund's total assets, followed by Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Abbvie Inc (ABBV).

The top 10 holdings account for about 45.99% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has added about 1.18% and was up about 29.98% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 01/13/2026), respectively. PJP has traded between $74.59 and $108.08 during this last 52-week period.

PJP has a beta of 0.45 and standard deviation of 14.92% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a high risk choice in the space. With about 33 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers .

Alternatives

Invesco Pharmaceuticals ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Health Care ETFs segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.

iShares U.S. Pharmaceuticals ETF (IHE) tracks Dow Jones U.S. Select Pharmaceuticals Index and the VanEck Pharmaceutical ETF (PPH) tracks MVIS US Listed Pharmaceutical 25 Index. iShares U.S. Pharmaceuticals ETF has $944.44 million in assets, VanEck Pharmaceutical ETF has $1.22 billion. IHE has an expense ratio of 0.38% and PPH changes 0.36%.

Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Health Care ETFs

Bottom Line

To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.

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